Jewish leaders were unable to speak uninterrupted, if at all, during a University of Washington Board of Regents meeting on Thursday, as anti-Israel agitators shouted them down until the meeting was prematurely adjourned and attendees were evacuated to safety.
After approximately a dozen anti-Israel speakers made uninterrupted arguments for why they feel the school should divest from companies associated with Israel, six Jewish speakers concerned about antisemitism on campus were slated to speak next. However, the first five speakers were unable to speak without being interrupted by jeers and chants, and the sixth speaker wasn’t able to speak at all.
“Shame! Shame! Shame!” the protesters shouted, among other anti-Israel rally cries. Board Chairman David Zeeck gave repeated warnings that the heckling must stop, or else the meeting would be adjourned. When campus police escorted board members, the university president, and Jewish speakers away to safety, the protesters’ chants only grew louder.
Jewish leader calls for equal protection on campus
The president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, Solly Kane, was the fifth and final Jewish speaker before the meeting was shut down. He shared his first-hand experience in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
“We were talking about harassment that Jewish students have experienced [on campus], and that is exactly what happened in the room,” Kane said. “We were repeatedly interrupted. We were not given the opportunity to speak without disruption, and I think that that speaks to the problem on the campus.”
Kane explained that police escorted the Jewish speakers, along with the regents and university president, to safety “out through an exit, down a stairwell off of a rooftop, down a few floors,” while the anti-Israel demonstrators remained in the meeting room.
He stressed his disappointment with Zeeck, who Kane said “laid out an expectation that if this sort of behavior continues,” the demonstrators would be removed by campus police. However, according to Kane, Zeeck never followed through on his words.
“That’s reflective of the problem on the campus that has existed over the course of last year that expectations are not followed through on,” Kane said. He explained that the Jewish community has met with university leadership to call for the school “to establish and enforce clear, unambiguous policies on antisemitism, on protests, on encampments and on masked demonstrations.”
“We’ve asked the university to communicate these policies openly and to uphold them consistently,” he said. “That’s all we’re asking for. But when the university leadership can’t ensure stability in a regularly scheduled board meeting, how are they supposed to ensure that the campus environment is a safe and welcoming space for everybody, including the Jewish community?”
Kane called on the school to enforce reasonable “time, place, and manner” restrictions on demonstrations, which balance protesters’ right to free speech with students’ civil rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to an equal education.
Hostilities have escalated considerably since Oct. 7
The University of Washington is already the subject of a Title VI investigation from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for the school’s alleged failure to respond to incidents of antisemitic harassment on campus. Kane said this failure to respond is a trend that continues to this day. If the school is found to have violated Title VI, it can lose federal funding.
Immediately following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, in which a University of Washington alumnus was one of nearly 1,200 innocents murdered by Hamas, anti-Israel hostilities boiled over on campus.
According to a November 2023 complaint, Jewish students were allegedly “targeted” at an Oct. 12 anti-Israel protest, which was advertised with flyers “that included a drawing of a paraglider similar to the ones Hamas terrorists used to fly into southern Israel and massacre young people.” One protester was allegedly heard saying that Israel is “finished,” just five days after the terrorist attack, while another protester allegedly accused a pro-Israel student of being a “f****** rapist.”
A video of Jewish students sobbing and begging authorities for help went viral during the protest. “They want our people dead,” one student said. “They want us killed; how you are allowing this?”
Jewish students at @UW campus witnessing pro-#Palestinian rally break down. “Why are you allowing this? They want our people dead. They want us killed, how you are allowing this?” #HamasTerrorism #IsraelFightsBack pic.twitter.com/cOwhldwjAH
— JIX5A (@JIX5A) October 12, 2023
The complaint stated that Jewish students felt “afraid to wear their Star of David necklaces or yarmulkes,” which coincides with polling that demonstrates how Jewish students increasingly feel unsafe on campus as the rise of anti-Israel activity has fueled rampant antisemitic conduct.
Nearly a year later, Kane revealed that many University of Washington Jewish students continue to be “scared to be Jewish, scared to walk around campus, scared to share their Jewish identity” on campus. “For many Jews, it has not been a welcoming place. And sadly, while the university has at times put out some statements, there has not been strong action to back them up.”
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“All we are asking for is for the Jewish community to experience similar safety to what other communities are experiencing on campus,” Kane said.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the University of Washington for comment.
This article was originally published in The www.washingtonexaminer.com
